Hundreds of children begging for money and food, working tirelessly and sleeping on the dirt streets of villages; this is the extreme poverty that Sanya Khatri, Div. 664, witnessed during her trip to India. Shocked and devastated, Khatri used this trip for inspiration to start BuildOn, a charity project, at Lane.

When Khatri returned from her trip to India, she began to research ways she could help out children in India, as well as other countries. Through research and volunteermatch.org, Khatri contacted BuildOn.

“BuildOn is a nonprofit organization that helps build schools in third world countries — places that don’t have access to education,” said Mr. Fine, one of the sponsors for the BuildOn chapter at Lane.

According to their website, BuildOn has built over 600 schools in 7 countries: Nepal, Mali, Malawi, Senegal, Burkina, Faso, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

Another part of Khatri’s inspiration to start BuildOn came from a book called “Half Girlfriend” by Chetan Bhagat.

“In the novel, the main character, Madhav Ja, runs a school for 700 kids in a small village,” Khatri said.

 Khatri reached out to her friends and teachers about starting a BuildOn chapter at Lane. The feedback and support that Khatri received was incredible and with that BuildOn started.

“Anyone can start a chapter at school, so long as there are students willing to become part of the progress of helping other students in need get access to education,” Mr. Fine said.  “It takes $30k to build a school, and in order to make this work, it takes passion.”

“It’s a beautiful thing to see young people reach their highest potential and help out others,” Mr. Fine said. “The four students who came up to me about BuildOn, Jeremy Kean, Sanya Khatri, Kevin Arce and Yessenia Rivera, were so well-spoken and inspired about this, it looked effortless. It truly is amazing.”

In order to raise money the club is  planning to have art auctions, movie nights, and concerts at Lane using student bands. So far, BuildOn has raised $206.

“We’re hoping to divide the large amount of volunteers we have into teams with specific responsibilities,” Jeremy Kean, Div. 663, said. “Anyone interested in art can operate on the project inside the art committee, maybe specifically the art auction subcommittee. Similarly, writers might enjoy the literature committee, or musicians the performance committee.

“We recognize that all of our fundraiser plans cannot be tackled successfully and efficiently unless we divide and conquer,” Kean said, “Thus the need for multiple branches of the same, upstanding tree.”

“We are going to sell henna tattoos, jewelry, and other cool stuff made in the Makers Lab,” Khatri said. “There is also a lot of power in numbers, so if we could get everyone at Lane to donate a dollar, we could get about $4,000.”

BuildOn has reached out to major media outlets around Chicago to help spread the word.

“We are trying to get in contact Chicago Tribune, The Sun-Times, ABC 7, and others to get the word around about BuildOn,” Mr. Fine said. “We are also going to write to big time celebrities and philanthropists like Angelina Jolie, and Oprah Winfrey. It helps that members of BuildOn do have connections to people who work for these places.”

“I think Sanya knows that, even with all of her passion, she can’t change the world with only two hands, Kean said. “So I offered her mine, to double the strength of her efforts in a concrete hope that the weight can be carried and the goals can be reached.  She has inspired myself and others with her selflessness. She deserves nothing less than my utmost support.”

Lane BuildOn will host its first “movie night” event. “Spirited Away” will be shown in the Media Room in the library from 3:30 to 6 p.m. with a short informational on the charity preceding the film.  Tickets are $3, 100 percent of the proceeds go to the charity, and they must be purchased from BuildOn representatives.

“Many more movies will be shown at Lane in the upcoming weeks to spread awareness and support our cause,” Kean said.

The official representative of BuildOn will announce where the Lane chapter will be traveling to help build the school, after they raise about $15,000. As of now, the chapter stands on traveling next winter, summer or spring.